Teen in California high school shooting rampage used 'ghost gun' made from parts

[webfact]

Teen in California high school shooting rampage used 'ghost gun' made from parts

By Dan Whitcomb

 

FILE PHOTO: Police and emergency vehicles on the scene of a shooting at Saugus high school in Santa Clarita, California, U.S., November 14, 2019 in this screenshot taken from video footage courtesy of NBCLA. NBCLA via REUTERS

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A 16-year-old boy who opened fire at his Southern California high school, killing two classmates and wounding three others before shooting himself in the head, used a "ghost gun" built from parts, the local sheriff said on Thursday.

 

Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow pulled the .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol from his backpack on Nov. 14, his birthday, and shot students at Saugus High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita seemingly at random before turning the gun on himself. He died of his wounds the next day.

 

"When we did a search of the house, we encountered what's called a kit gun. The weapon used in the homicide was also a kit gun," Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told local KABC-TV in an interview.

 

"It was assembled from parts, had no serial number. So it becomes what's known as a 'ghost gun,'" Villanueva said.

 

The sheriff told KABC it was not yet clear if the teenage gunman put the weapon together himself. The boy's father, who died in 2017, was an avid hunter who once owned six guns. But those weapons had been confiscated from him and destroyed, Villanueva said.

 

Kit guns are sold legally at gun shows and online and are sometimes called "80% percent guns" because they are purchased roughly 80% assembled, he said.

 

STILL NO MOTIVE

The sheriff told KABC that despite conducting 45 interviews and conducting an exhaustive search of Berhow's home, police had not yet determined a motive in the rampage, the latest mass shooting at a U.S. school during a national debate over gun rights.

 

"All of those witnesses have been interviewed, we know the mechanism, the how, but the why still remains an elusive goal," he said.

 

Villanueva said Berhow's mother packed corn dogs, grapes and homemade cookies into his backpack before school that morning, evidence that "even the mother apparently was unaware of what was going to transpire."

 

The two slain students were a 16-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy. Two other girls, aged 14 and 15, and a 14-year-old boy were wounded.

 

Federal agencies were working to unlock Berhow's cellphone, which could contain clues to his plans, Villanueva said.

 

The scene at Saugus High School was reminiscent of other mass shootings at U.S. schools, including Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former student with an assault rifle killed 17 people on Feb. 14, 2018.

 

It was the 85th incident of gunfire at a U.S. school this year, according to Everytown, a gun control advocacy group.

 

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Culver City, California; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-22

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[Tug]

Sad a. Gun obsessed kid with a death wish 

[BritManToo]

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

STILL NO MOTIVE

The sheriff told KABC that despite conducting 45 interviews and conducting an exhaustive search of Berhow's home, police had not yet determined a motive in the rampage, the latest mass shooting at a U.S. school during a national debate over gun rights.

It's nearly always caused by ostracism, bullying and mistreatment handed out by the more popular students.

Children are often very cruel to each other.

[sunnyboy2018]

American men and boys seem obsessed with proving themselves by killing other people in a cowardly way. When will the government do something about this carnage?

[Nyezhov]

4 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

American men and boys seem obsessed with proving themselves by killing other people in a cowardly way. When will the government do something about this carnage?

You cant fix crazy.

[quadperfect]

Kids killing kids.   Its really insane. The gun rights are in america to stay and i believe they must stay. Americans are born free and need to stay that way. The government can never have total controll, or we will be a venezuela or even a hong kong. victims to the governments controll . As long as americans own guns our civil rights are intact. 

No one has a solution to this 85 gun events in a single school year. Thats 1 every 3 days of school session.

I dont have the answers but you can start with whats diffetent now compared to a few decades ago. 

Internet

Video games violence

Social media

Childhood vaccines are in 100s now 

Diet

Medications.

The answer is in these somewhere.

 

 

[Pilotman]

59 minutes ago, Tug said:

Sad a. Gun obsessed kid with a death wish 

Gun obsessed country. 

[Pilotman]

6 minutes ago, quadperfect said:

Kids killing kids.   Its really insane. The gun rights are in america to stay and i believe they must stay. Americans are born free and need to stay that way. The government can never have total controll, or we will be a venezuela or even a hong kong. victims to the governments controll . As long as americans own guns our civil rights are intact. 

No one has a solution to this 85 gun events in a single school year. Thats 1 every 3 days of school session.

I dont have the answers but you can start with whats diffetent now compared to a few decades ago. 

Internet

Video games violence

Social media

Childhood vaccines are in 100s now 

Diet

Medications.

The answer is in these somewhere.

 

 

The US jails a higher percentage of its peoples than any other country in the world, more than Russia, China or any other State; so much for freedom eh? Its one of the least free country I can think of.

 

As Jim Jefferies points out, in Holland, you can smoke a joint, while banging a hooker, in front of a cop and not be arrested.  Now that is real freedom.  As he also points out, why do some need to have assault rifles capable of killing at over a mile?  Hardly to protect life and property is it?  The fact is, the US State is gun crazy and crazy people do crazy things. 

[Nyezhov]

38 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

Gun obsessed country. 

No, actually a freedom obsessed country. 

[Nyezhov]

39 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

The US jails a higher percentage of its peoples than any other country in the world, more than Russia, China or any other State; so much for freedom eh? Its one of the least free country I can think of.

Got a source for that? Care to enlighten us as to how the rates of incarceration for criminal offenses equates to a lack of freedom.

[Pilotman]

3 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Got a source for that? Care to enlighten us as to how the rates of incarceration for criminal offenses equates to a lack of freedom.

Sorry, what?  If people are in jail, they are not free? Self evident I would have thought. Check on google 

 

Catch Jim Jeffries on U Tube,  his now famous 'US Gun Laws clip'.  Very enlightening for people still living in the 1800s Wild West. 

[Nyezhov]

2 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

Sorry, what?  If people are in jail, they are not free? Self evident I would have thought. Check on google 

 

Catch Jim Jeffries on U Tube,  his now famous 'US Gun Laws clip'.  Very enlightening for people still living in the 1800s Wild West. 

Oh I see, you are saying high incarceration rates means us folks in the law abiding population arent free. the folks in NK are freer.

 

Gotcha. Got to run, I need to rake my tin cup across the bars to get someone to feed me. I hope its not slop again.

 

 

[spidermike007]

As much as Americans say something needs to be done, the reality is that the US is a very blood thirsty culture. 

 

Guns are everywhere and are easy to obtain cheaply. 

[Nyezhov]

Just now, spidermike007 said:

As much as Americans say something needs to be done, the reality is that the US is a very blood thirsty culture. 

 

Guns are everywhere and are easy to obtain cheaply. 

Have you bought one recently? Since its so cheap and easy?

[stevenl]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Kit guns are sold legally at gun shows and online and are sometimes called "80% percent guns" because they are purchased roughly 80% assembled, he said.

I was really surprised to read this. This makes gun acquisition even in a state like California extremely easy.

[Nyezhov]

5 minutes ago, stevenl said:

I was really surprised to read this. This makes gun acquisition even in a state like California extremely easy.

Becasue its incorrect. the 80% rule means that these kits must be machined. You cant even assemble one unless its correctly machined. Thats not easy. 

 

If you want a technical explanation and details Id be happy to provide since I have been involved in the process of machining actual firearms receivers many times.

[stevenl]

1 minute ago, Nyezhov said:

Becasue its incorrect. the 80% rule means that these kits must be machined. You cant even assemble one unless its correctly machined. Thats not easy. 

 

If you want a technical explanation and details Id be happy to provide since I have been involved in the process of machining actual firearms receivers many times.

Thanks.

 

So what is incorrect, my conclusion that it is relatively easy to legally obtain a gun in California, or the sheriff's statement?

[rudi49jr]

5 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

You cant fix crazy.

But you can fix the ridiculously easy access to guns.

[Nyezhov]

2 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Thanks.

 

So what is incorrect, my conclusion that it is relatively easy to legally obtain a gun in California, or the sheriff's statement?

Its not easy to get a gun in Cali, and a "kit gun"  doesnt make it much easier

 

2 minutes ago, rudi49jr said:

But you can fix the ridiculously easy access to guns.

And what law would have stopped this one? 

[Sujo]

4 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

No, actually a freedom obsessed country. 

If we cant go round killing by mass murder then we arent really free.

 

 

[stevenl]

4 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Its not easy to get a gun in Cali, and a "kit gun"  doesnt make it much easier

 

And what law would have stopped this one? 

So I'm wrong, I can accept that, and the sheriff's conclusion is wrong as well.

 

Thanks for your opinion.

[Saint Nick]

7 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Its not easy to get a gun in Cali, and a "kit gun"  doesnt make it much easier

 

And what law would have stopped this one? 

One that works nationwide!

[Nyezhov]

4 minutes ago, Saint Nick said:

One that works nationwide!

they have that already. 

 

There is no law to stop criminal behavior. 

[hanuman2543]

6 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Got a source for that? Care to enlighten us as to how the rates of incarceration for criminal offenses equates to a lack of freedom.

Country	Prison population	Population per 100,000
US	2,193,798	737
CHINA	1,548,498	118
RUSSIA	874,161	615

[Nyezhov]

3 minutes ago, hanuman2543 said:

Country	Prison population	Population per 100,000
US	2,193,798	737
CHINA	1,548,498	118
RUSSIA	874,161	615

Great. Do those china figures include Uigher Concentration camps?

 

So how about the question then? Or even better, Whats the point of those numbers vis a vis my freedom? Or the freedom of any other law abiding citizen?

[hanuman2543]

Google is your friend. If you Google prison population by race you will find out that black people are the biggest part of them contrary to the fact that the normal population has much more white people. There you go dude

[hanuman2543]

3 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Great. Do those china figures include Uigher Concentration camps?

 

So how about the question then? Or even better, Whats the point of those numbers vis a vis my freedom? Or the freedom of any other law abiding citizen?

And how about the Russian numbers? Any excuses?

[sirineou]

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

they have that already. 

 

There is no law to stop criminal behavior. 

You mean there is no law to stop criminal behaviour 100% of the time. Obviously every law is there to stop criminal behavior. 

[Nyezhov]

Just now, sirineou said:

You mean there is no law to stop criminal behaviour 100% of the time. Obviously every law is there to stop criminal behavior. 

Up early then in Florida?

 

 Law doesnt stop criminal behavior. Law tells us what criminal behavior is. You cant stop drunk driving by making it "against the law" unless you put an interlock in every car and then someone will disable it, ya? Law just tells folks what you can and cant do. Folks decide for themsleves.

 

 

 

 

[hanuman2543]

L

13 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Great. Do those china figures include Uigher Concentration camps?

 

So how about the question then? Or even better, Whats the point of those numbers vis a vis my freedom? Or the freedom of any other law abiding citizen?

https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/anti-whistleblower-ag-gag-bills-hide-factory-farming-abuses-public

 

Is that the freedom you're talking about?